Full-time students employed in BC agriculture, food, beverage, or seafood processing, fishing, and aquaculture sectors during the summer season are eligible to apply for a bursary of up to $3,000.

The Summer Student Farm Worker Bursary Program (SSB) supports summer labour needs, youth engagement and work experience in the agricultural sector in BC.

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Overview

Approach

Eligibility

Application

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Program Objective

The program objective is to increase youth and domestic seasonal worker employment in the agriculture sector for the Summer 2024 and 2025 seasons.

Program Goal

The program aims to increase youth and domestic seasonal worker employment in the agriculture sector in BC.

Approach

Program Structure

Bursaries will be allocated to support students working in BC agriculture during summer 2024 and summer 2025 seasons. Both secondary and post-secondary students will be eligible to receive the following bursary payments, depending on total hours worked:

Minimum Hours Required Bursary Amount
250 hours $1,500
500 hours $3,000

 

Funding amounts may be prorated for hours worked between 250-500. This will allow 1–4-month blocks of work that are in better alignment with picking/harvesting throughout the summer months.

Funding will be awarded on a first-come first-serve basis. Applicants may apply without confirmation of employment, however, will only be conditionally approved for funding pending the submission and confirmation of employment.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants must be:

  1. 16 years old or older
  2. Be enrolled in full-time studies in the current academic year and intend to return to full-time studies in the fall*
  3. Enrolled in a designated educational institution**
  4. Legally permitted to work in Canada

*A full-time student is an individual who is accepted to full-time enrolment in a secondary or post-secondary institution. Each institution may have a different definition of full-time, please consult your school for confirmation.

**Designated educational institutions include:

  • Canadian secondary schools, universities, colleges, and certain other educational institutions;
  • Canadian educational institutions certified by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) providing courses that develop or improve skills in an occupation, other than courses designed for university credit;
  • Universities, colleges, or other educational institutions in the United States that give courses at the post-secondary school level if the qualifying student is living in Canada throughout the year and commutes to that institution.

Eligible Activities

Applicants must already be hired by an employer within one of the following sectors or seeking a job in one of the following sectors:

  • Primary Agriculture
  • Food, Beverage, and/or Seafood Processing
  • Fishing or Aquaculture
  • Nurseries for bedding plants (or similar)*

A minimum of 250 hours must be completed within the summer season to be eligible to receive a bursary payment through the Program. For this program, the summer season is defined as May 1 to September 1.

*Nurseries for bedding plants, specifically those involved in large-scale or wholesale production. This excludes garden centers, landscaping and/or farm supply stores (including feed).

Ineligible Participants and Activities

The following participants, activities and expenses are not eligible to be funded under the Summer Student Farm Worker Bursary Program. This list is not exhaustive and is meant to be used as a guideline.

  • Students under the age of 16 during the work term.
  • Students who aren’t returning to school and/or full-time studies in the Fall (following the work placement).
  • Part-time students or those enrolled in graduate/post-doctoral studies.
  • Job placements outside of the agriculture, seafood/food/beverage processing, or fishing/aquaculture sectors.
  • Job placements outside the province of BC.
  • Job placements with Farmer’s Markets, apiaries, community gardens, hobby farms, landscaping, Industry Associations, research farms, food security and/or non-profit organizations.
  • Remote job placements, office and retail positions, social media, events coordination, sales etc.

Applications

Applications for the summer 2024 season will be accepted starting January 11, 2024, until April 30, 2024, at 4:30 pm PST or until funding is fully committed. All applications will be accepted through the IAF Client Portal on an ongoing basis. Applications will be reviewed in batches at the end of each month throughout the application window. Please note, that applicants can expect to receive a funding decision via email within 2 weeks of a batch review. 

Funding will be awarded on a first-come first-serve basis. Applicants may apply without confirmation of employment, however, will only receive conditional approval for funding pending the confirmation of employment.

Important Dates

  • January 11, 2024 – Applications Open
  • April 30, 2024, 4:30 pm PST- Application Deadline

Application Process

Applicants will apply through the IAF Client Portal. The application process will consist of:

Create a personal profile on the IAF Client Portal (name and email).

Once you’ve created an account, select Summer Student Farm Worker Bursary Program from the Funding Opportunities, and provide:

  • Applicants contact information
  • Date of birth
  • Bank account for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payment
  • Employment Information (i.e. sector student will work within, estimated hours of work to be completed)
  • Confirmation of employment
  • Education level information (i.e. high school, post-secondary student)
  • Proof of full-time school enrollment

IAF staff are available to answer questions regarding eligibility and the application process. IAF may also contact applicants for additional information or clarification to assess their application.

Applicants can contact ssb@iafbc.ca with any questions about the program or to receive support with their application.

Need help with IAF’s Client Portal?

We’ve created a number of tutorials and FAQs about the IAF Client Portal to help you navigate this resource successfully.

Notifications & Obligations

Funding Notifications & Contracts

If the application is approved, IAF will inform the applicant of the details of the decision and any associated terms and conditions. The applicant then enters into an agreement with IAF which outlines the obligations of each party.

Funding Acknowledgement

This program is funded by the Governments of Canada and BC, therefore; acknowledgment of funding is required when publicly communicating about a project and/or funding. To ensure appropriate acknowledgments, all communications and marketing materials, including public announcements or social media posts, must be pre-approved by the IAF Communications Team. Materials can be submitted via the IAF Client Portal.

Reporting Requirements

Upon finishing the summer work season, the applicant will be required to report and submit proof that they completed the minimum number of hours. This includes the submission of paystubs/payroll hours that have been provided by the employer. Students must complete a minimum 250 hours of work with an employer to be eligible to receive the minimum bursary payment of $1,500. A maximum of 500 hours can be claimed to a bursary payment of $3,000. Any number of hours worked between 250-500 hours can still be claimed, but bursary payments will be prorated accordingly. All payments will only be issued at the end of the work season. Program participants will be required to complete a survey as part of their final reporting requirements.

Ready to Apply?

Summer Student Farm Worker Bursary

Applications are now closed.

Resources

FAQ

Designated educational institutions include:

  • Canadian secondary schools, universities, colleges, and certain other educational institutions;
  • Canadian educational institutions certified by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) providing courses that develop or improve skills in an occupation, other than courses designed for university credit;
  • Universities, colleges, or other educational institutions in the United States that give courses at the post-secondary school level if the qualifying student is living in Canada throughout the year and commutes to that institution.

Nurseries for bedding plants, specifically those involved in large-scale or wholesale production. This excludes garden centers, landscaping and/or farm supply stores (including feed).

For this program, the summer season is defined as May 1 to September 1.

Eligibility to work on a family-owned farm depends on whether the student owns or has shares in the corporation.

Owns Shares: If the student owns or has shares in the employing farm/corporation, they would not be eligible to apply with this position for the SSB bursary. This is because they would benefit from it both as an owner and an employee.

No Shares: If the student is not listed as an owner or does not have shares in the corporation, there is no issue with them being employed by the family-owned farm to work the Summer season. In this case, it would be similar to them working on their neighbour’s family farm.

Yes, working at an urban farm is an eligible activity within the Primary Agriculture Sector. This does not include community gardens or hobby farming. 

Payments are issued in arrears upon the completion of the job placement and the hours worked are confirmed.

IAF provides payments by EFT (direct deposit). To get your EFT information set up to ensure timely delivery of your payment(s), please follow the directions provided here to update your client portal.

Have a Question?

Contact the IAF Team

Program Guide

Download the Program Guide.

Funding Acknowledgement Requirements

Download the Funding Acknowledgement Requirements.

Are you an employer?

Download our sharing package.

Funding provided by:

CAP Logo, Province of BC Logo, Government of Canada Logo

The Summer Student Farm Worker Bursary Program is funded under the Agriculture and Food Workforce Development Initiative (AWDI). AWDI is funded by the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction through the Canada-British Columbia Labour Market Agreement. The initiative is a $15M fund designed to support BC’s agriculture industry to provide a stable and increasing food supply through targeted efforts to recruit and retain a sufficient workforce to meet the labour needs of the industry. AWDI is delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC (IAF).